Cursed…like a desert shrub

“Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.” ESV Jeremiah 17:5-6

Last week I made mention of my fondness for the book of Jeremiah. His word pictures are absolutely brilliant. And his message is a timely one for our age. You may recall that in Jeremiah 17:7-8 we pictured a blessed man; blessed because he trusted in the Lord. This week is just the opposite.

Lonesome Dove; High Plains Drifter; The Good The Bad and The Ugly; what do all these films have in common? What picture appears in your mind’s eye? My thoughts immediately turn to the American West where rugged men bore harsh, hot, arid conditions to survive; some through honest commerce, some by dishonest commerce, some with partners and some alone. But the common thread in these movies matches a common thread that permeates our society; selfishness. At the end of the day, the characters in these movies really only cared about themselves. They trusted in no one except themselves. And they were supremely confident in their own abilities.

Our society applauds self sufficient, self confident individuals. We admire them. We place them in our advertisements. (Remember the Marlboro man?) We laud them on the tube. But Jeremiah sees them differently. Jeremiah, speaking for God, says that those individuals who trust only in their own strengths and abilities instead of trusting in the Lord are cursed. This is strong language; and a strong indictment towards our ‘its all about me’ mentality.

Lonely. At the end of the day, all of the movie characters mentioned were lonely. Some of them rode off into the distance alone. Some of them parted ways with friends. Some of them died lonely deaths. None of these endings would surprise to Jeremiah. Jeremiah likens the self centered life to a shrub in the desert.

I let my mind wander about desert shrubs for a bit. I have no recollection of desert shrubs bearing fruit for the benefit of others or future generations. My mind’s eye can’t come up with much foliage to shade the parched earth. There is nothing majestic about a desert shrub. They all seem kind of thorny to me. They seem downright difficult to be near and inhospitable. Everything that comes to mind about a desert shrub has to do with taking instead of giving; with self preservation and survival. So too is the man who trusts only in his abilities and abandons the Lord.

What about you? Are you a giver or a taker? Do you trust in your own abilities or is your trust in the Lord? The difference in this life is striking. The important difference will be in eternity. Trust in the Lord.